Extraordinarily Ordinary: Parenting

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we learn to be parents. For many of us, we do what our parents did, we do the opposite of what our parents did, we read books, we talk to friends and pediatricians, we adapt as we can. For some though, it’s just not an intuitive process at all and, I’m guessing, that can be very scary. A friend of mine, also a mother, was a little critical of another woman we know and her reliance on the parenting methods espoused by the Love and Logic creators. It seemed to my friend that the woman was…

I have a bee in my bonnet tonight. This will not be one of my more well-structured blog posts and that’s because I am tired and irritated but here goes: I may only “work” part-time but for those of you who think it’s not enough: you try to plan for two classes, communicate with nearly 200 students, manage two TAs, know your material well enough to teach it to someone else, take garbage from “real” profs, find freelance work, do freelance work, feed, clothe, entertain and bathe two small children, volunteer at church so you can teach your children it’s…

Our family has joined the ranks of those with children in the MPS system and it’s hard to figure out who’s having a harder time adjusting…#1 son or me. Actually at this point, the end of the third day of school, it is quite clear that I’m the only one still getting used to the new way of life. My sons have never really gone to daycare. My husband works odd hours and Marquette University has graciously done their best to schedule my courses so that my husband and I could handle childcare at home. When we need help we…

I’ve been thinking a lot about judgment lately and how we judge those around us constantly. I come from a family of…let’s call them “alert” people. I grew up in a family of lawyers and teachers, two careers that put the people who practice them in a position to observe a lot of behavior and make actions based on what they observe. It has bothered me from time to time how quickly people rush to judgment about everything from what someone eats to what they wear to the company they keep. As a teenager, I hated the phrase, “you don’t…

  A few months ago, I held a baby shower at my home for a friend who is fostering and planning to adopt a child from Milwaukee County’s foster care system. The little girl was already with her mom-to-be so she came to the shower and played with my two boys as well as two other children from two other families. The kids had a raucous time stealing cake off plates, trying to ride our very patient dog and chasing the balloons that refused to stay stuck to the walls no matter how much tape I put on them.  …

This is it: my first blog post. With this blog, “Extraordinarily Ordinary: Parenting”, I hope to share some of my own personal experiences and the stories and experiences of some of the parents I’ve interviewed for stories I do as a freelance writer. There are so many great stories out there, so many amazing experiences, confounding issues and fascinating ideas, there has to be room for one more blog about parenting, especially one that attempts to focus on parenting in Milwaukee. I love being a parent and I think my children are spectacular, of course. However, I’m aware that there…